The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 93
III - Concept of the Acceptance of Prayer in Islām 93 employ these ways and means as per the circumstances and benefit from them. Furthermore, the secret to worldly success is hidden in the use of these very means. Likewise, in addition to these physical means, God the Exalted has crafted a spiritual instrument as well and this spiritual instrument is prayer. Moreover, it is the desire of Allāh the Exalted that in their affairs, in addition to employing these physical and material instruments, people should employ prayer, i. e. , this spiritual tool in parallel as well. Furthermore, in this Divine Will a twofold purpose has been kept in mind: 1. Firstly, so that on account of being surrounded by merely materialistic means, the sights of people do not remain confined to a materialistic environment alone. Moreover, that they do not begin to look upon these materialistic means as their final support. Quite the contrary, along with these means, they may remember the God Who created them, upon the dependence of Whom all these materialistic means are affixed. 2. Secondly, so that people realise that just as various materialistic means have been appointed for success in different objectives, so too, has the Eternal Decree of God appointed a spiritual tool. This spiritual tool is that of prayer, which is just as effective in our affairs as are materialistic ones. Albeit, as per the law of nature, just as there is a technique for the use of every materialistic resource, similarly, there is a technique for the use of this spiritual resource as well, which if not employed is not effective. However, when this method is employed, this spiritual resource becomes even more effective than the materialistic one. Undoubtedly, the hand of God supports both materialistic and spiritual means, and He is the cause of all causes. However, in this spiritual method, since God the Almighty is as if appealed to directly, for this reason, if it is employed in the correct manner in comparison to materialistic means, it unequivocally proves to be more powerful in its effect, more swifter and widespread in its effect. God Listens to and Accepts Prayers After this fundamental discussion, we present a few Qur’ānic verses and Aḥādīth relating to the concept of prayer, so that it may be ascertained as to what Islām teaches in this regard. Therefore, Allāh the Exalted states in the